I came out the other side standing in my own kitchen on Earth, and the contrast hit me like a wall. The lawn beyond the windows was silver-blue in the moonlight. There was no rebar grille on any window. No Black Snake search party. No laminate counters with handprints in them.
It was still night here, and I was honestly exhausted after infiltrating a gang's building. So I didn't hesitate to do what had been my favorite thing for the last twenty-four years.
I went upstairs, fell onto my new bed in my new clothes, and was asleep before my head hit the pillow.
...
I woke up to my phone vibrating on the nightstand. Good thing I always kept it that way.
The light through the windows was the gray-yellow of early morning. I groped for the phone.
MIRA.
I cleared my throat, swiped, and put the phone to my ear with a voice that was not even slightly ready to be a voice. "Aunt."
"Sweetheart. Did I wake you?"
"...Define wake."
